Bears enter offseason with questions, thoughts of what could have been
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Bears had a disappointing end to the season with their loss to Green Bay. Now it's onto the offseason.
The Bears have dropped 14 of their last 15 to the Packers. It's not the way head coach Matt Eberflus or quarterback Justin Fields wanted their season to end.
Now, fans have to wait to see if either, both, or neither men will be back next season. CBS 2's Matt Zahn had the latest from Halas Hall on an offseason with the potential for massive change.
It was locker clean-out day for the Bears on Monday as the players headed their separate ways after a disappointing loss in Green Bay put a damper on the late-season resurgence.
"Gotta get better, and everyone knows that," said linebacker Jack Sanborn. "You know, this organization, obviously, I've grown up here, getting to know the history of it. Even though you can say [we play in] a good division, not many teams that were really that bad, it's fourth [place] in the division. And I think that's the goal every year is to beat those other three teams. We didn't do that enough, and we didn't win enough games."
Wide receiver DJ Moore said about the end of the season, "It stings, but you always got next season to piggyback on what you did this year. We had seven wins, so why not go for, let's put high expectations, let's go 10-plus for next year and finish out games better and be a better team."
There remain many questions about who exactly will be part of the team next season, starting with the quarterback. Moore said Fields' name came up quite a bit in his exit meeting. The receiver gave one last pitch for Fields to return as QB 1.
"It would be amazing," Moore said. "Nobody wants to really start all the way over and have a losing season again."
He added, "We're gonna have to wait and see."
Sanborn added, "I love Justin. Obviously, I competed against him in college. Watched him come into the league and being his teammate for the past two years. I mean, just a great guy, great competitor ... It's not my decision to make, but I'll always stand by Justin."
With or without Fields, the players in the locker room did feel like they were building something.
"You've seen it," said defensive end Montez Sweat. "You've seen how the defense can perform when we're on all cylinders. You've seen how the offense can perform when they're on all cylinders. There's definitely a foundation we're building upon."
A Bears fan or fans lined the road to Halas Hall with signs supporting bringing back both Fields and cornerback Jaylon Johnson. The two players' futures are the Bears' biggest offseason decisions on a team that will have plenty of salary cap space and, of course, the No. 1 and No. 9 overall picks in this year's draft.
As for his take on his future, Fields said, "That decision is not in my hands. All I can control is what I did do. I gave it my all, so whether it's here or not, I have no regrets. We went through the same thing last year. We had the number one pick. Everyone was asking, 'What if? What if? What if?' and that happens. I'm not saying that nothing will happen because, shoot, we all don't know. But I'm not gonna let the potential or what if ... stress me from enjoying life."
What could have been
While the Bears head into the offseason excited about some of the progress they made, they're also thinking about what might been if they had finished a few games better and if the offense could have done a little more to help out an improved defense.
"I feel like we definitely could've played better to help those guys out," said running back Roschon Johnson. "Because they were playing lights out and they ultimately kept us in a lot of games and ultimately were the reason why we won games. So I feel like from an offensive standpoint, we can definitely play better all around."
Moore added, "We had some games where there was lulls, and we didn't finish out games the best that we could. The games that we won, you could see the offense is on the rise and can be explosive."
Despite the loss to the Packers, the Bears did improve by four wins from last year. They saw a big defensive resurgence and didn't fall apart despite numerous challenges early in the season, a credit to head coach Matt Eberflus.
"I think he maybe saw it before any of us saw it and really just always didn't change throughout the rough times or the good times," Sanborn said. "Because it was ugly at times, it was bad. We were playing bad ball. We weren't executing. We weren't playing good, and then it kind of changed. I think guys in this locker room could feel that. I think everyone else could feel that, and that's what makes yesterday so tough."
Count Sweat among the guys who won't be waiting by their phone for any Bears coaching news. Like many of the players, he said he's ready for a mental break, even though he wanted some more time with the guys in what was clearly a pretty tight Bears locker room.